My name is Joe. I am Megan's fiance. We went to an amazing
concert at the 9:30 club on Sunday, 4/29. Here is my recap.
I got tickets for this concert last December just browsing
around. I really wanted to see the band that wrote "Cool Kids" as it
is a great and fun song! After I bought tickets I ended up buying the album
"Talking Dreams" and really enjoyed the tracks on it. I then bought
their Christmas album which is also really good and then the "Inside a
Dream" EP they ended up releasing shortly thereafter. Their music is fun
and upbeat so that is why I went to the concert.
We got to the 9:30 club about 5 minutes after the doors opened
as the show wasn't sold out so I wasn't too worried. I have never been upstairs
at the 9:30 club as I love to get as close to the band as possible. This time
we went upstairs so we could try to get a better view and lean on the railing.
The view up there is incredible, but the venue is great. There isn't a bad view
anywhere in the whole venue! Just look at the picture at the beginning of this
article. Great views! Unlike the Anthem, which has generally good views but you
really gotta squint to see the band sometimes.
Also, being 31 years old I was probably older compared to
the average person there, but far from the oldest. Echosmith has very broad
appeal and catchy tunes so not surprised to see all sorts of people
represented!
Anyway, the doors opened at 7:00 and the first opener went
on at 8:15. This was Jena Rose. She did a really good job but I could tell she
was newer to the scene. She had trouble to make the crowd clap their hands with
her and stuff. However, for Boy with the Balloon the audience did a good job of
holding out their phone lights and it really helped sell the song. That was my
favorite song that she did. I recommend checking her out to see if you like her
music. I also liked that she wore a jumpsuit, it was a different look from what I normally see most artists wear. Her single, The Boy with the Balloon, is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rakm5i5D3I
Next up at 8:55 was the second opener, The Score. This band
was a huge surprise and I LOVE them. I actually went and bought their album
right after. They sound like a cross between Imagine Dragons and Walk the Moon.
But they are really their own thing. You may have heard them on the radio
before with their single "Oh My Love". But I loved all of their
songs. My favorite was a tossup between Legend and Revolution. But really that
album is great and only $7.99 on Amazon. I remember at one point that the lead
guy complained that he needed some "microphone tape, because this one
keeps slipping all over the fucking place'. He had an upbeat attitude and ended
with "Strange" to remind people that they are perfect the way they
are. Songs that reflect how people feel and help them feel great.
After a very quick turnaround Echosmith came on stage and
they immediately fired the confetti guns. Which gave me the great photo at the
top of this article. They played all their hits (but they have so many in my
opinion). The first cool thing I noticed was that at the end of Bright she did
a short duet of "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" by Death Cab for
Cutie. For Talking Dreams she replaced "let's run away to NYC" with
"let's run away to DC". Love it when a performer hams up it a bit for
the crowd.
Her mom also came on stage briefly and Sydney told us to buy
their sweatshirts that said "Life is Great" on them. However, her mom
quickly informed her that they were SOLD OUT. So that was a little awkward.
I forget what song it was but eventually she was spinning a
parasol at some point and invited this awesome kid named "Reed" up on
stage (I hope I remembered his name right). She had him up there dancing and
singing along with her while twirling his own parasol. He seemed so EXCITED To
be up there and I thought that was amazing. That excitement and happiness
seemed to rub off on the whole crowd and just made for a better experience.
The second from last
song was a cover of "When You Were Young" by the Killers. She gave a
different take on the song which I love when people do. Then the last song
before the encore was "Goodbye" and they threw a bunch of balloons
filled with confetti for the crowd to bounce around. People are jerks is all I
gotta say. They kept nailing the drummer with those balloons by bouncing them
up on stage. Which in a venue as intimate as the 9:30 club is bound to happen.
But no worries. Sydney had a knife and started stabbing the balloons in an
explosion of confetti. I suspect this was part of the act, but who knows? Since
they were filled with confetti I think it was.
Then they went off stage and we only had to cheer for like 2
minutes to get the one song encore of Cool Kids. One of the shortest encores I
ever had to wait for. I've waited 10-15 minutes before and I bet other bands
have made people wait longer.
She opened Cool Kids by reminding us that we are not alone.
You may not feel like a cool kid or whatever, but that's okay. We are each so
important than anyone else. I am reminded by something I think I saw on TV.
"You mean someone important, not like me." Then this person told that
guy "I've never met anyone who wasn't important." I suspect Doctor
Who said that but I am not 100% sure. It is a 100% factual statement though.
Everyone is important, no one is more important than anyone else, I hope we can
all remember that.
Anyway, during the song the whole crowd was dancing and
singing along and I hugged and spun Megan doing the best dance moves I could
possibly do. The energy of that ending performance was infectious. We had a
happy buzz all of the way home and into the next day.
So overall 9/10 show. Then again the 9:30 club always has
great shows. My favorite concert I ever saw was there (Jimmy Eat World Futures
10x tour).
Like all concerts I also wore ear plugs for most of the
performance, trust me, you gotta do it. No one at the show cares and if it is
good enough for the band it is good enough for me. I saw some good parents
making their young kids wear hearing protection too so glad to see the trend is
picking up. WEAR HEARING PROTECTION AT CONCERTS
Anyway, this is getting kind of long so I am gonna stop
here. I may be back for other reviews from time to time so hoped you enjoyed
reading this one. Go listen to Jena Rose, The Score, and Echosmith now! You'll
enjoy them.
The food here has been mostly good, nothing bad. Last night we
ate at a Japanese restaurant and it was very good. The food was made in front of
you and was a great stir-fry. 
